Laura Owens, a 36-year-old woman from Scottsdale, Arizona, who pleaded guilty in August to four counts of falsely claiming she was pregnant by a former man. The Bachelor the twins of star Clayton Echard, was sentenced Friday to one month in prison and seven years of supervised probation.
The Oct. 23 sentencing took place in Maricopa County Superior Court, where Judge Jeffrey Rueter heard Echard’s request to send Owens to prison. “I believe incarceration is an absolute necessity because I and other victims know that Laura will not stop until she is removed from her environment,” Echard said while sharing a victim impact statement, according to Court Television. “And her environment is the comfort of her parents’ guest house. It’s not enough that she’s being called a criminal.”
Reuter said of his decision to send Owens to prison for more than a decade or release her on probation: “Nothing makes sense about it. Either she is a sophisticated, conniving, calculating artist or she has engaged in some really poorly thought out attention-seeking behavior due to mental health issues. So which one is it? Because one deserves one type of sentence, one deserves another type of sentence.”
If she violates the terms of her probation, Owens could be sent to prison for more than 15 years.
Owens faced a maximum sentence of 12.5 years in prison at his sentencing, which was broadcast live and covered by local media, as well as on social media by a community that has followed the Owens case for years, including host Stephani Young. Love trapped podcast that made Echard’s story a national sensation. (THR contacted Echard and his attorney, as well as Young, regarding the sentencing.)
Under an agreed agreement, Owens pleaded guilty to four counts, including two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, one count of impersonating another and one count of perjury.
Owens also spoke in court Friday, alongside his attorney Christian Lueders. Another man against whom Owens had also made a false pregnancy claim, Greg Gillespie, had a statement read on his behalf by the prosecution. A third victim, Mike Marraccini, who is not on the prosecution’s list of victims in Arizona since the alleged fraud involving him occurred in California, was also present, according to information on site.
“I pleaded guilty to four felonies and I am deeply, deeply sorry for the pain, distress and expense I caused them,” Owens said, according to FOX 10 Phoenix.
“Her tears that she brings every day will be because she is fighting to avoid being incarcerated,” Echard said. “Her tears aren’t from empathy, they’re not. She doesn’t feel sorry. She’s just sorry she got caught.”
A letter, written by the woman whose ultrasound image Owens stole, was also read during sentencing. “I’m afraid of prison,” Owens said. “I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But I’m not afraid of being held accountable and if you allow me to go home today, I won’t believe I escaped the consequences of what I did.”
Owens’ story gained national attention after she attempted to trap Echard into a relationship by altering an ultrasound image and other medical records, and fabricating a pregnancy video. According to an initial ruling, she repeatedly lied under oath during hearings in paternity and related protection order cases.
Echard, a former NFL athlete, starred on ABC’s Season 26 The bachelor, which aired in 2022. Shortly after completing his divisive bachelor’s tour, he moved to Arizona to begin a career as a real estate broker. It was then that he met Owens and engaged in what he describes as a one-night stand, during which they had oral sex. “Laura first contacted me through LinkedIn. If I wasn’t single, I don’t think I would have appeared on her radar,” he recently said. The Hollywood Reporter in an article about the three-year trial that spawned Love trappedfrom iHeartPodcasts and Glass Podcasts, which has become one of Apple’s biggest podcasts in 2026 and a sought-after Hollywood property.
Love trapped, which expanded from its original series to follow the investigation and ongoing case, released a new episode timed to sentencing and will release a final episode to cover the aftermath.
“I was just a catalyst,” he says. “I was just a person who had a public reputation and that was the initial interest. Without that, there would be no community. Now the podcast is one of the best podcasts of 2026. People are listening. I feel like I’ve done something, right?” Echard said THR before sentencing. (Read the full Love trapped functionality, here.)
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